


The Man Advantage

by partypaprika



Category: Mighty Ducks (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:22:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21834373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partypaprika/pseuds/partypaprika
Summary: "I know it's the middle of the season, but I would be forever grateful if you made space on the team for a new player," Mike said."Absolutely," Charlie said. “What’s this guy’s information and what’s his daughter’s name?”“Sure,” Mike said. “Daughter is Molly. Dad is Adam Banks. Phone number is—” and whatever came next, Charlie wrote down automatically on the legal pad in front of him as his mind went completely white.He must have made some kind of customary closing remark because the next thing that he knew the line had gone dead and Charlie was staring down at the piece of paper with the name “ADAM BANKS” written heavily on it, underlined twice with a phone number above it.“Stop being such a spazz,” Charlie told himself, although the words had little to no effect on slowing down his racing heart. Adam Banks. Back in Minnesota. Charlie hadn’t talked to Adam in almost twenty years.
Relationships: Adam Banks/Charlie Conway
Comments: 14
Kudos: 122
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	The Man Advantage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miriad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miriad/gifts).



> Miriad, I hope you enjoy!

“I know that the season has already started,” Mike Forinetto, part-time mite-commissioner, full-time owner of Mike’s Groceries, said to Charlie over the phone. Charlie’d first become acquainted with Mike when his daughter had joined her first mini-mite team at five. He’d somehow roped Charlie into coaching, buttering him up by talking about how much the kids would love to play for a team coached by someone who’d played in the Goodwill Games. None of the kids even knew what the Goodwill Games were—they’d happened twenty years ago, a lifetime in kid age—and honestly, Charlie was completely fine with that. 

Mike continued on. “I feel really bad for this dad—they just moved here and he sounded desperate to find a team for his daughter to play on.”

“Of course,” Charlie said. “The more the merrier. These kids are seven and eight—no one is going to care about getting a minute less ice time.”

“But their parents might…” Mike said and although he wasn’t wrong, it made Charlie want to roll his eyes. Hockey politics among the parents of the Twin Cities were enough to drive even a relatively sane person crazy.

“Well, they can come talk to me about it if they’re that worried about their eight-year-old’s prospects,” Charlie said and he could hear Mike brightening at that—thankful that Charlie wouldn’t be sending them in his direction. “What’s this guy’s information and what’s his daughter’s name?”

“Sure,” Mike said. “Daughter is Ellie. Dad is Adam Banks. Phone number is—” and whatever came next, Charlie wrote down automatically on the legal pad in front of him as his mind went completely white.

He must have made some kind of customary closing remark because the next thing that he knew the line had gone dead and Charlie was staring down at the piece of paper with the name “ADAM BANKS” written heavily on it, underlined twice with a phone number above it.

“Stop being such a spazz,” Charlie told himself, although the words had little to no effect on slowing down his racing heart. He hadn’t talked to Adam in almost twenty years. Adam had been recruited to play at Cornell and although they’d both promised to keep in touch at Eden Hall’s graduation, he’d only heard from Adam once or twice after that.

Through the grapevine, he’d heard that Adam had moved to New York City after college. Well, that was clear enough that they were headed in different directions. Every so often, Charlie thought of Adam and hoped that they would someday cross paths again, but it had seemed like a pipe dream at best.

“Wow,” Charlie said again. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Wow, ok, this isn’t such a big deal. An old friend is back in town, isn’t that great?”

He’d just give Adam a call—say hi, like a normal person, express excitement and surprise over Adam moving back to the Twin Cities, see how the move had been, welcome his daughter to the team. Charlie ran through it all in his head one more time just to make sure he had it down. Taking a deep breath, he then dialed the number.

It rang once, twice, three times, Charlie’s heart kicking up again until suddenly an automated voice came on with the number, directing the listener to leave a message.

“Hey, Adam, it’s Charlie.” Charlie floundered for a second, his plan now completely irrelevant. “Charlie Conway. Look, Mike Forinetto gave me your number—I think that you’re looking for a team for your daughter and my team has a spot. We have practice on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Give me a call back and I can fill you in on all the other information that you need.” He paused for a second. “It’s, uh, really nice to have you back in town. I look forward to hearing from you.”

After he hung up, Charlie grimaced, but didn’t bother beating himself up. What was done was done. Even if he, in fact, managed to lose all semblance of coherency on the phone. Adam Banks was back in town. Adam Banks.

That night, in the middle of dinner, Charlie’s phone lit up, _Adam Banks_ displaying prominently on it. “Dad, no phones at the table,” Molly, Charlie’s eight-year-old daughter said, her face expressing the full weight of her moral judgment.

“I know, but I’ve really got to pick it up,” Charlie said. Molly’s face remained unchanged in its disapproval. “It really will just take one minute. Finish your cauliflower.”

Charlie picked up the call right before it inevitably would have been sent to voicemail. “Adam!”

“Uh,” came from call, unmistakably Adam. “Yeah, it’s—it’s Adam Banks.”

“I got that much from the caller ID,” Charlie said, laughing. “It’s so good to hear your voice. It’s been such a long time! Mike told me that you had just moved back to town.”

“Yeah, I should have called you sooner, it was just…” Adam said, his voice uncertain and guilty.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I know how much of a pain moving is in general. Much the less to a whole new city. And hockey is the most important thing. Got to get that lined up before anything else,” Charlie said.

Adam laughed at that, the relief evident in his voice. “I’m sure that you’re busy with dinner right now,” Charlie shot a look over to his daughter who was still staring at him, her eyebrows raised in a ‘Really?’ look that she’d inherited entirely from her mother, “But I wanted to make sure that I got back to you before it was too late.”

“I appreciate that—and yeah, I probably should go back to dinner before my daughter stages a mutiny, but all you need to know is that we have practices on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Let me know if she doesn’t have gear—the league can provide some—and I’ll have a jersey there for her. You just need to bring her on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. to Meyer rink and I’ll walk you through everything after practice,” Charlie said.

He rewound it in his head to see if it made sense. It _was_ a lot of information to throw at someone. “Sound good? I can also text you the practice information so you’ve got it handy.”

“Yeah—that would be great,” Adam said. “As long as you give me directions, I can make it there. And that’s certainly easier than almost anything else we’ve had to deal with this for this move. But uh, thank you for taking my daughter onto your team. The move back has been…well, it’s been tough on her. And she loves hockey. She would have been devastated to have to sit the season out. Especially here in Minnesota.”

Charlie most certainly could relate to that. Molly had been skating almost as soon as she’d been walking. If Molly had needed to stop hockey mid-season, she would have been devastated.

“Anyways, I’ll let you get back to dinner. But, thanks again. And I’ll see you on Saturday,” Adam said.

“Looking forward to it,” Charlie said and then he ended the call.

“That was more than a minute,” Molly said. “I counted.”

“How many multiples of five was it, rounding to the nearest five?” Charlie asked.

Molly thought for a second. “Twenty-two,” she said.

Charlie checked the call log on his phone. Not bad.

“Who was that?” Molly said, digging back into her carefully segregated mashed potatoes. The cauliflower firmly overlapped with the salmon, but the mashed potatoes needed to remain separate at all times.

“An old friend,” Charlie said, thinking about how best to describe Adam to her. “We used to play hockey together, a long time ago.”

“Oh!” Molly brightened at that. “On the same team with Connie and Fulton and all your other friends?”

Charlie laughed at that. “Well, not all of them. But yes, that same team.”

“Cool!” Molly said and then went back to her food with all the focus of a general planning an attack.

Just like every other Saturday morning, Molly and Charlie arrived at the rink half an hour prior to practice. Meyer rink was a small dingy rink with perpetually uneven ice around the boards, deep cuts into the ice no matter how many times the Zamboni had gone over it and faded banners high up on the walls proclaiming mite, peewee and midget champions from years past. In a word, Charlie loved it.

Molly went straight to the locker room, Charlie trailing as he looked around the rink, trying to see if Adam and his daughter had arrived. He tried to brush off the disappointment he felt when he didn’t see them.

“Oh, hey,” Molly said, stopping as Charlie pushed open the locker room door. “Dad, there’s someone already in here.” Charlie could have laughed at the confusion in her voice—they were usually the first ones here by a long while. 

Charlie stepped into the room and stopped short as well. Sitting on a bench was another girl about Molly’s age, a little smaller than Molly but based on the way that her chin was jutting out, with more than enough determination to make up for it. Next to her, with a pair of shin guards in his hands, was a man that must have been Adam.

When he’d last seen Adam, Adam had been a scrawny nineteen-year-old, lean with muscle, but still shooting up like a sprout, with floppy, messy hair that always seemed like an afterthought. The Adam in front of Charlie was barely recognizable—his hair was medium-length still, but styled now in an artful tousle. His face was still lean, but his cheekbones were more prominent, emphasized by a trimmed beard.

Somewhere along the way, he seemed to have figured out how to dress. The Adam that Charlie had once known couldn’t have dressed his way out of a paper bag. Everything that wasn’t hockey or necessary for hockey, he’d relegated to the “don’t need to know” pile. Now, Adam wore clothes that didn’t just fit, they fit well, emphasizing his toned shoulders and chest.

Despite everything, there was no mistaking who it was. Adam’s eyes hadn’t changed at all, and Charlie knew well that slight quirk of his lips of uncertainty that Adam wore now as he looked over at Charlie. 

“Adam!” Charlie said, when he realized that it’d been more than a few seconds. “It’s great to see you!”

Adam smiled at that, and that too was all familiarity, and he put down the shin guards before standing up, reaching out a hand as if for a handshake before Charlie pulled him into a hug. Adam stood there awkwardly for a moment before he relaxed, bring up his hands to hug Charlie back.

When Charlie stepped back, Adam had on that same hesitant smile that Charlie remembered from high school. He guessed some things stayed the same no matter how long it had been.

He turned to Adam’s daughter. “Hi, I’m Coach Charlie,” he said and looked over at Molly who was staring at Adam’s daughter curiously. When she didn’t say anything, Charlie continued. “And this is Molly.”

“Oh, hi!” Molly said, belatedly. “Yep, I’m Molly.”

“This is Ellie,” Adam said.

“Hi!” Ellie chimed in.

Molly went to go sit next to her, so Charlie dumped her hockey bag in front of her. “I play forward,” Molly said. “Well, most of the time. Dad makes us try everything.” She wrinkled her nose like it was the worst thing in the world to have to play defense. Charlie tried not to roll his eyes.

“Oh, me too,” Ellie said. “How long have you been playing for?” And then Molly was off and running—like every other kid in Minnesota, she could talk hockey until the cows came home. Hockey and Disney’s _Frozen_. Clearly, she had a type.

“I need you to sign a few waivers,” Charlie said, motioning Adam over. Adam took the papers from Charlie and quickly scanned over them.

When Adam was done signing them, there was a long pause while Charlie saw Adam try to find the words to say something. Charlie wanted to laugh—twenty years later and he could still recognize Adam’s socially insecure face. So he picked up the play that Adam put down and took the lead.

“How are you settling into the Twin Cities?” Charlie asked.

Adam latched onto that like a lifeline. “It’s been good—just a lot of work getting Ellie signed up for school, getting her medical records faxed, buying new winter gear.”

Charlie laughed at that. “I can imagine. So what have you been up to—it’s been—”

“Twenty years,” Adam said.

“A long time,” Charlie said at the same time and then laughed. “Yeah, about twenty years. Do you still play?”

Charlie didn’t need to specify. Adam nodded. It seemed too personal to offer up Charlie’s beer league and Adam didn’t ask, so Charlie left it at that.

They didn’t get a chance to say much more before the other kids on the team started trickling in and Charlie was called on to tie various skates or help pull jerseys on over shoulder pads. The next time that Charlie looked up, Adam had disappeared from the locker room, presumably out to the rink, where the rest of the parents would sit.

  
Practice was much the same as it normally was, Ellie fitting right in with the other kids who were generally happy to have another teammate. They did warm-ups, then drills and finished with a chaotic scrimmage where half the players understood their position and half of the players treated it as a free for all. Once or twice, Charlie looked up into the stands and saw Adam sitting there, his face intent as he watched Ellie and it made Charlie smile.

“Thanks, Coach Charlie!”

“Bye, Coach Charlie!”

“See you on Tuesday, Coach Charlie!”

After practice, the kids scattered to the locker room, everyone waving good-bye to Charlie as he unlaced Molly’s laces near the stands before she too bolted to get changed.

“Good job out there,” Adam said from behind Charlie, causing Charlie to jump with surprise.

“Thanks,” Charlie said. Neither one of them said anything for a second, so Charlie went on instinct. “Hey, no pressure or anything, but do you and Ellie and, uh, your partner want to come over for dinner sometime this week?”

“Uh,” Adam said and his face went tight.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Charlie said. “I know that you’re probably swamped with moving in. Another time.”

“No,” Adam said forcefully. “Dinner would be really nice.”

Charlie side-eyed Adam but Adam looked resolute. “Ok, great,” Charlie said.

“And it’s just me and Ellie,” Adam said, his gaze flicking off to the right. Charlie wasn’t sure what to say—commiseration? Just an acknowledgement? The moment stretched out, Adam’s face impassive, and then he said, “Does Monday work?” Crisis averted.

Charlie shook his head. “Val, that’s Molly’s mom, has her Saturday through Tuesday. Tuesday, we have practice, so that’d be a little tight. Wednesday?”

Adam was now looking at him a little funny. Charlie raised his eyebrows. “Wednesday?”

“Yeah,” Adam said, his face going carefully blank—and that one Charlie didn’t remember. It wasn’t much of a surprise that at some point Adam had learned how to hide his feelings, but it made Charlie feel a little sad. Just another reminder that there were a long ways past their fast friendship from the Ducks.

“Alright, I’ll text you the details,” Charlie said and then another parent tapped him on the shoulder to ask about her daughter’s stick handling. By the time that Charlie turned back around, Adam was gone.

Adam and Ellie showed up for practice on Tuesday, but Tuesday was a shorter practice, everything more frantic as kids hurried to get changed and Charlie set up the drills on ice. No one really lingered much after Tuesday practice, everyone eager to get home and kids ready for bed. Charlie spotted Adam once or twice, but they didn’t get a chance to speak. If Charlie felt a little bit disappointed at that, he told himself that he was being silly.

Wednesday night, Charlie and Molly went to the store after he picked her up from school. “What are we making tonight?” Molly asked as Charlie checked out the produce.

“Maybe some butternut squash soup,” Charlie said, just to watch Molly make a face at that.

“Dad, I hate butternut squash soup!” Molly said. “Please don’t make that.”

“What about broccoli?” Charlie asked.

“Ew, Dad, no,” Molly said. “Broccoli is so gross.”

“You’re so gross,” Charlie said and Molly laughed at that.

“No, you’re grosser,” she said. “You’re the grossest.”

“Ah, yes, I am the grossest, you’ve got me figured out,” Charlie said. “How about we do some shrimp tacos and brussels sprouts?”

“I suppose that’s fine,” Molly said loftily. “Although if you’re making me have brussels sprouts, I think that I should get dessert.”

Charlie shrugged. “I suppose you’ll have to wait and see about that.”

By the time that Adam and Ellie showed up, the shrimp was washed and ready to be grilled and the brussels sprouts had been tossed with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and were being roasted in the oven. Molly ran to the door but waited patiently until Charlie could wipe his hands off and come and open it.

He opened the door to reveal a bundled-up Adam and Ellie, scarves wrapped tightly around both of their necks. “Come in,” Charlie said and couldn’t help but laugh as Adam and Ellie began unzipping their jackets where they each wore several other layers. “Still getting used to the Minnesota winters?”

“I’d forgotten,” Adam said ruefully. “It’s not that it doesn’t get cold in New York—it does. But it’s a much more manageable cold.”

“It’s good that you came back now,” Charlie said. “A few more years and you would have completed the irreversible change to a non-Minnesotan.”

“The horror,” Adam said dryly, but he was smiling, so Charlie counted it as a win.

Once he and Ellie had removed their jackets, scarves, gloves, sweaters, hanging up them up at the coat tree in the entrance, Molly motioned Ellie towards her room. “Do you like board games?” she asked Ellie.

Ellie thought. “What kind of board games?” she asked.

“Well, I have Sorry,” Molly started. “And Outfoxed. And Yahtzee. Oh! And Mouse Trap, that one is really fun. I also have some dolls that we can play with. Come on.”

And then they were off, disappearing into Molly’s room.

Before it could get awkward, Charlie gestured to Adam to follow him into the kitchen. “Sorry, we’re probably still about twenty minutes out from dinner,” he said. “I’ve got to grill the onions and make some guacamole.”

“Wow, fancy,” Adam said. “When I left Minnesota, I don’t think that anyone in the state knew what guacamole was.”

“Well, a lot has changed since you’ve been gone,” Charlie said lightly as he began chopping onions. And then, because he’d been wondering it since he first heard from Mike that Adam was in town, “What brought you back?”

Adam looked down on the counter where two avocados lay and he stared down at them. Charlie let the moment stretch until Adam cleared his throat. “A few reasons, I guess. My ex-wife got a great opportunity with an oil and gas company, but she’ll be traveling to their various sites for most of the year. My dad can help me out with Ellie. Jenna, that’s my ex-wife, her parents weren’t in New York either. They’re in Washington state. And, I guess I just missed this place.”

Charlie waited until Adam looked back up. “Well, we’re glad to have you.” As an afterthought, he added, “Cake-eater.”

Adam groaned. “Just when I thought that I’d shaken that nickname…it can’t possibly be applicable now. It’s been twenty years.”

“Once a cake-eater, always a cake-eater,” Charlie said smugly.

“Fine, spazzaway,” Adam said, but Charlie could tell that his heart wasn’t in it and, for some reason, that made him laugh until his chest hurt.

Adam looked down at the avocados. “Can I help with something? I make a mean guacamole.”

“That would be great,” Charlie said. “Besides, it takes a lot of work to mess up guacamole.”

“Your faith in me is heartening,” Adam said, but went to find a knife to cut up the tomatoes and avocados.

Charlie and Adam chatted as they cooked, Adam filling in a few of the broad strokes of his life since he’d left for college. It turned out that Adam had gone into banking when he’d left college, at his dad’s suggestion. “There was talk of me entering the NHL Draft,” Adam said, his voice a little wistful, “and my dad really wanted me to consider it. But, I had already needed one wrist surgery and if I got picked, I would have been picked in one of the later rounds. So, the chances of me languishing in a minor league or a league in Europe just waiting to get re-injured felt really high.”

“You didn’t want to try?” Charlie asked.

Adam shrugged. “I did want to try. I just—I felt like I would be mortgaging my future for my present in order to do it. When I eventually did quit, I’d be in my late twenties, back on the search for a career. Starting from scratch.”

Adam carefully finished cutting up the tomatoes and added them to the diced avocados in there. As always, each movement was deliberate, his hands working in tandem so efficiently.

“Would that have been the worst thing?” Charlie asked.

“Looking back, probably not. But you never know these things at the time,” Adam said. “And I can’t bring myself to regret it—I probably wouldn’t have Ellie if things had turned out differently.” Yeah, Charlie knows how that story goes. Getting divorced was one of the hardest things that he’d ever done, but he would take that over never having Molly.

“I know the feeling,” Charlie said and then moved the conversation onto safer grounds.

By the time that everything was ready except for the brussels sprouts, Charlie had brought out the beers and tossed one to Adam who’d read the label suspiciously. “Just drink the beer, Cake-eater,” Charlie said, laughing. “It’s not poison, I promise.”

Adam opened the bottle and then took a deep pull, his face lighting up when he was done. “That’s pretty good,” he said, as if Charlie would serve him bad beer.

“It’s from Fulton’s brewery,” Charlie said and was immediately gratified by how wide Adam’s eyes went.

“Fulton has a brewery?” Adam said. “Here?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said. “We have breweries in Minnesota.”

“Oh, shut up, Charlie,” Adam said, but he was laughing too and looking at the beer wonderingly. Charlie could read the question on his face— _how were the rest of the Ducks?_

But Charlie refused to take the pass from Adam. If he wanted to know about the rest of the Ducks, he could ask. History suggested that he wouldn’t—seeing how he’d left twenty years ago without even a look or call behind him. Charlie clamped down on the swell of anger and pitched his voice towards the stairs.

“Molly and Ellie, why don’t you guys come down and help set the table. We’re almost ready for dinner,” he called.

Molly shouted back in the affirmative and the two of them ran from Molly’s room with the usual sound of elephants stomping down the staircase.

Dinner was nice—really nice—Ellie was on the quiet side, although more talkative than her dad—and Charlie had plenty of experience, his own daughter notwithstanding, with eight-year-olds. The benefits of coaching a gaggle of them.

He found out that Ellie was at Cornelia Elementary, nearby, and a few of the other girls on the team were in the same grade as her at Cornelia, which had been nice. She’d played hockey back in New York as well. She had been playing since she was a toddler, Adam teaching her how to skate from the start.

“I bet you just couldn’t wait,” Charlie said, directing it to Adam. “How long did you wait after she started walking.”

“I’ve been skating since I was three,” Ellie said proudly. “Dad said that I’m a quick learner.” Adam wasn’t wrong there—from what Adam had seen in two sessions, Ellie definitely had Adam’s genes all right. It was funny—looking at Ellie and seeing so much of Adam.

With his other friends and their kids, the similarities were too gradual in all but the most glaring instances. The way that Connie’s son and daughter, Henry and Renee, would give this long-suffering look, just like Connie, for example. But most of the time, Henry was a ten-year-old and Renee a thirteen-year-old that Charlie had watched grow from diapers, to first skates, to reading-obsessed. When he looked at them, he just saw Henry and Renee. 

With Ellie, he could see so much of Adam in her. The way that she sighed or the protective way that she held herself—except for on the ice when she was fearless. There were other parts of her that Charlie guessed must be from her mom, her smile and full head of curly hair, among them.

“Did you guys really play hockey together growing up?” Ellie asked.

Charlie nodded. “Yeah, we did.”

“We have a bunch of pictures!” Molly said. “After dinner, I’ll show you.”

Charlie cleared his throat. “That might have to wait until next time. After dinner, Adam and Ellie probably need to start heading home. They also have school in the morning.”

“Ok,” Molly said easily. That was one of Molly’s best traits—she was so sanguine about changes. She definitely didn’t get that from either Charlie or Val. “Then, I’ll definitely show you next time. But this time we’re still getting dessert, right?” She threw her best puppy-dog eyed smile at Charlie and Charlie barely resisted rolling his eyes at her deviousness.

Charlie looked over at Adam, who held back his own smile of commiseration. Eight-year-olds were the same no matter what part of the country they lived in. Charlie tilted his head in question, not wanting to put dessert as an option if Adam would prefer none. Adam nodded though, his smile deepening and Charlie turned back to Molly.

“Yes, we’re still getting dessert.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Molly said, smiling so wide that it made Charlie’s heart twinge. Just the usual parent rollercoaster.

Once dinner was finished, plates cleared off, taken to the sink and washed, Charlie got out the ice cream. “What do you say to two of Pumphouse’s finest?” he asked.

“What’s Pumphouse?” Adam said.

Molly’s mouth dropped. “You don’t know Pumphouse Creamery? It’s the best ice cream. Right, Dad?”

Charlie displayed two cartons of ice cream—one vanilla and one cookies and cream. “Prepare to be delighted, my friends,” he said and Ellie giggled. He grabbed a bunch of bowls to hand to Molly along with spoons. After ascertaining what flavor everyone wanted, Charlie scooped out small scoops for the girls and slightly larger ones for Adam and himself.

“Now that you’re official residents of Minnesota, you’ve got to brush up on your Minnesota culture.” Charlie said as they ate. “Next, you’ll be telling me that you haven’t even gone cross-country skiing.”

Ellie’s head perked up from that. “What’s that?” she asked.

“Remember the skiing that we did on the mountain,” Adam asked.

“Kind of,” Ellie said dubiously, like she didn’t really believe it but was willing to go along with it for the sake of the point.

“It’s like that, but on a flatter area,” Adam said.

“I want to try it!” Ellie said.

“Alright,” Adam said, laughing a little. “We’ll try cross country skiing. After all, who knows, it could come in handy after a big storm.”

When Adam and Ellie headed out, bundling up for the brief but cold walk to Adam’s car, Charlie taook Adam aside. “Thank you so much for coming over,” Charlie said. If he was being honest with himself, he’d have assumed that the evening would have been more awkward—long silences, scrambling for conversation to fill the void. But it had been nice. More than nice.

Adam shook his head, looking Charlie directly in the eye. For a moment, Charlie’s heart struck his chest painfully and he found himself holding his breath. “No, thank you, this was really nice,” Adam said. “I had a great time and I know Ellie did too.”

“It was no trouble,” Charlie said. “We should take the girls cross-country skiing and make a day out of it one of these weekends.”

“I’d love that,” Adam said and he briefly squeezed Charlie’s shoulder, the warmth bleeding through despite Charlie’s thick, long-sleeved shirt.

Even though it was well below zero, Charlie held the door open longer than he should have, watching Adam and Ellie make their way out to their car.

“Alright, Molly, bath time then bed time,” Charlie said.

Molly made a face but dutifully started heading upstairs to her bathroom.

Later that night, Adam sent a text message. _Thanks_. Three dots below popped up and Charlie waited to see what else Charlie would send. _It was a really nice dinner. Nice to be around friends again._

A little flame of warmth spread through Charlie. Even if he’d never stopped thinking of Adam as a friend, it felt good to have it confirmed somehow.

Adam didn’t stray far from his mind over the next few days. On Thursday mornings, Charlie volunteered at Molly’s school where Goldberg now taught.

“Wait, Adam is back in town?” Goldberg said. “Adam Banks? Cake-eater? I thought he was over in New York being all fancy?”

“Yeah, Goldie,” Charlie said. “He’s back. He’s just moved back with his daughter. She’s about Molly’s age.”

“No kidding,” Goldberg said, shaking his head. After a long pause, while he presumably digested such life changing news, he nodded encouragingly. “Well, glad to hear he’s back in town. Don’t keep him all to yourself, Charlie. Let’s plan something with all of the Ducks.”

“I don’t keep him all to myself,” Charlie said.

“Mmhmm,” Goldberg said. “I meant what I said. How about a barbeque at your place?”

“It’s the middle of winter!” Charlie said. Goldberg gave him a long look. “I will make sure that you get to see him—ok?”

After Saturday’s game, Adam came up to Charlie with a determined look in his eyes, his shoulders set. Charlie tried to anticipate what would come. Did he think Ellie didn’t get enough ice time? Was he angry at the refs? Everyone seemed so reasonable, Adam included, until their kids were on the ice.

“Do you want some help?” Adam asked.

Charlie did a double take. Did he want…help? Was that a euphemism for something? “Uh, Adam, what kind of help?” Charlie asked slowly.

“On the ice,” Adam said. “Like an assistant coach or something like that.”

“Oh,” Charlie said thinking. It wasn’t like he was opposed to having someone help him on the ice. Especially someone who knew hockey the way that Adam did. “I mean, if you want to help, I won’t turn you down.”

Adam’s shoulders slumped with relief—like he’d been expecting Charlie to fight it. Charlie wasn’t so enamored with his own coaching that he wasn’t willing to accept help in herding a bunch of wild kids on a frictionless surface.

“Plus,” Charlie said. “You and Ellie are always here early anyways. We can go through the game plan then.”

“Great,” Adam said. “Also, do you and Molly want to go for lunch with Ellie and me once they get changed.”

“Let me check with Val,” Charlie said. “But I think that’ll probably be good.”

Charlie took Adam and the girls to one of his and Molly’s favorite lunch spots. The food was alright, but they let kids color on the paper table covers and so Molly loved it. Ellie seemed equally excited and Molly sat next to her, already talking excitedly about what she was going to draw.

“Is this a new place?” Adam asked, looking around, squeezed up next to Charlie in the booth. For a moment, he moved in too far, and he pressed up against Charlie, a warmth that Charlie wanted to lean into and Charlie caught a hint of what must have been Adam’s cologne, warm and spicy, before he righted himself.

“—been here long?” Adam said. Clearly Charlie had missed the first part of Adam’s question.

“Sorry—I didn’t catch that,” Charlie said apologetically. Adam smiled at that, as if Charlie were the punchline to some wonderful joke, and it lit up his face beautifully.

“I was just asking if this has been here long,” Adam asked.

Charlie looked around and tried to think. “Since at least I was a kid,” he said. “We didn’t eat out all that often when I was a kid, but every once in a while my mom took me here.” Charlie didn’t say that the hadn’t eaten out all that often because they were barely getting by—waitressing and meagre child support didn’t lend itself to a lot of disposable income.

But Adam’s face softened, like he’d heard all of what Charlie hadn’t said. Something warm bloomed deep in Charlie’s chest. Neither one of them looked away. Eventually, Adam quietly said, “Well, I like it.”

Before either one of them could say anything else, their waitress came, ready to take their orders.

A few weekends later, over the long holiday weekend, Charlie wrangled a full weekend day with Molly and arranged with Adam to take the girls out cross-country skiing.

When they got to the cross-country skiing center, Adam made a face at the skis. “I’m going to suck at this,” he said. “It’s been decades since I did this last.”

Charlie tried to be magnanimous. “I’m sure that you’ll remember it in no time. Like riding a bicycle,” Charlie said. “Besides, you’ve got me and Molly for support.” Adam look valiant, like he was trying to will himself to be good at this unpracticed sport. Charlie turned away to hide his smile and headed to the counter to get their gear and passes.

After everyone was outfitted, cross-country skiing boots on their feet and Adam and Charlie carrying two pairs of skis each, they headed outside, back into the cold weather. Charlie showed Adam and Ellie how to step into their bindings, Adam starting to remember as he clipped his boots in. Ellie took a few tries, but once she was in, she was ready for anything.

“Let’s go!” she said excitedly and started trying to move. She fell over after a few steps, but pushed herself right back up, still eager to try it.

Charlie led them onto an easy loop and spent about twenty minutes going through the basics, which was about fifteen minutes too many for Adam. After five minutes, he started picking it right back up again, as if he’d been doing it all this time. Apparently, he was a natural born athlete in almost every sport. Yet, it was difficult to feel too bitter about it as Charlie watched Adam move, his arms and legs flexing as he pushed forward.

He looked really good, Charlie thought. With hockey skills and a body like that, he was not going to stay single in Minnesota for long. But there was a sting as soon as Charlie pictured Adam dating again, turning that heavy focus of his attention onto someone else, smiling at their jokes, putting his hands on their—and Charlie needed to stop thinking about this _right now_.

“I think I’ve got it,” Ellie said and tried to take off after Molly, who was trailing behind Adam.

“Make sure you—” Charlie started and then Ellie overcompensated and lost balance, keeling off to the side. “Don’t stretch yourself out too much.”

Ellie lay there, arms awkwardly splayed out to the side, and made a snow angel while the two of them laughed.

Charlie crouched down beside her and made his own snow angel off the side of the trail until eventually Adam and Molly looked back over them.

“Conway, slacking as usual,” Adam said, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Molly couldn’t stop giggling long enough to say anything, eventually stepping off the tracks to join Charlie and Ellie in their snow angel endeavors.

“Come on, Cake-eater,” Charlie teased. “Come join us!”

With a dramatic sigh, Adam stepped off the track as well, and then in a graceful motion that was beyond anything that Charlie could pull off, he lay down. He reached his arms across the snow, starting to make a snow angel, but halfway through the motion, stopped and, quick as a whistle, threw a handful of snow at Charlie.

Immediately, both of the girls were up, laughing, as they threw snow at Charlie and Adam, and tried to get out of their skis. Winking at Adam, Charlie helped the girls get out and then they were off and running behind the trees lining the trail, already molding snowballs in their hand.

“What have you done?” Charlie asked with mock-horror. “You have created a monster!”

“Two monsters really,” Adam said and then he pitched his voice towards the girls. “But I think we can take them!”

They spent the next half hour letting the girls try to pelt them with snowballs and occasionally lobbing a few back. The sun was bright blue, Adam stood next to him and Molly and Ellie were right in front, having the time of their lives. Charlie couldn’t remember being so happy.

When they finally made it back to the ski hut to drop off their skis, cold water soaked through their layers and everyone was ready for a change of clothes and some warm food. Charlie looked at Adam, already trying to think what he had in his kitchen to eat for the four of them.

“Do you guys want to come back to ours?” Charlie asked. “We’ve got plenty of warm showers and I was thinking about making chili.”

The look that entered Adam’s eyes could only be described as glazed. Charlie guessed that it was a plan.

They arrived at Charlie’s dark house as the sun was setting and Molly threw on all the lights in the house as she and Ellie ran up to her room. Charlie directed Adam to the bathroom, showing him where the towels were, and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt for Adam to wear.

As he passed Molly’s bathroom on the way back downstairs, he called through the door, “You girls good?”

“Yeah, Dad, we’re fine,” Molly said, her voice muffled as she said something to Ellie and then they both laughed.

Charlie started up the chili, putting ground beef and garlic in a pot, and when it was brown, adding in the tomato sauce, chili powder and a few spices and covered it. It would need to simmer for a while—hopefully no one would be cleaned up and ready for quite some time.

While that simmering, Charlie went back upstairs to his bedroom and started grabbing the clothes that he would change into—even with the house heated, he was still freezing, so he started taking off his outer layers.

Charlie didn’t pay much attention to the shower shutting off, focused on toweling himself off with a shirt, but when Adam opened the door to the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, and came out, Charlie’s brain jumped to attention, unable to stop himself from taking full stock of the well-defined muscle of Adam’s chest and stomach.

For a long moment, Charlie could only think about what it would be like to pull Adam to him, unwrap his towel and let Adam lean forward, his weight trapping Charlie on the bed. He was only human and Adam looked good enough to make even Mother Teresa reconsider her vows.

With forcible effort, Charlie pulled himself back into the moment. Adam was staring at Charlie, a strange look on his face. Charlie had removed his wet shirt and when he looked down and realized what Adam was staring at, he went bright red.

“Uh, sorry,” Charlie said and tried not to imagine a blessed sinkhole opening up and swallowing him whole. “I was just—cold—and I—anyways, what’s up?”

Adam’s face looked like a dog right before it shook itself out after getting wet. “I—was—there was just a small leak from the shower. I wanted to make sure it was ok.”

“Oh, yeah,” Charlie said. “Just stick a towel on the ground. It always does that.”

“I—ok—great,” Adam said and then quickly disappeared and closed the door behind him.

Charlie looked down on his lap where another part of him had found the prior proceedings very interesting. At least the wet shirt he’d dropped had hopefully hidden the evidence of that…

After dinner, Charlie put on _Frozen_ and Molly and Ellie fell asleep watching it while Charlie and Adam hung out in the kitchen drinking beer. Every thirty minutes or so, Adam would half-heartedly say, “I should really get Ellie and take her home, it’s so late.”

And then Charlie would say, “They’re fine. They’re already asleep, Stay a little longer.” Then they’d go back to whatever they were discussing.

“What are you doing Monday evening?” Adam said eventually. He was fully relaxed, Charlie could tell, by the way that his gestures were just a little more expansive, his vowels a little bit longer and rounder, sounding like a true Minnesotan. It was adorable.

“Molly will be at Val’s, but I’m going to a party at Connie and Bill’s—that’s her husband. A bunch of the old Ducks gang will be there. Are you and Ellie interested in being my plus one?”

Adam suddenly became fascinated by the label on his bottle.

“You don’t have to say yes,” Charlie said. “I know that the gang would love to see you, but there’s no pressure to come if you don’t want to.”

“No,” Adam said strongly. “I mean, no. I want to see them—it’s just—” he looked back down at his label and tore the rest of it off with a hint of force. “I know that I was the bad guy here—I should have kept in touch with people. I should have kept in touch with you—I just—I couldn’t.”

Charlie moved over to Adam’s side of the island and put a hand on Adam’s shoulder. For a long moment, Adam’s shoulder stayed tense and stiff and then with a sigh, his whole body relaxed towards Charlie. “No one is angry at you,” Charlie said. “I get it. They get it. Sometimes you need to start a new chapter with a fresh slate. No one will be angry at you and if they do—they’ve got to get through me first.”

“I didn’t need a new slate though,” Adam said. When he turned his head, they were close, only a few inches separating them. “I thought I did—I thought I was doing the right thing and being strong. But I was really just being a jerk.”

“It’s all in the past,” Charlie said and they were now so close—close enough that if Charlie leaned in, they’d be kissing and that was—that thought was—Charlie couldn’t stop looking at Adam’s lips—

“Dad?” Molly’s voice came from the other end of the kitchen and Charlie and Adam sprang apart. “Can Ellie sleep over?”

Charlie looked at Adam who was doing an excellent impression of a standing plank, stiff and immobile. “Um,” Charlie said, wishing Adam would look up so he could gauge what Adam wanted. “Let me talk about it with Adam and I’ll let you know.”

Molly yawned. “Ok, Daddy,” she said and disappeared back in the direction of the living room.

Charlie wasn’t sure what to say. What he wanted to say. He wanted to rewind twenty seconds and go back to—he wanted Adam close. He wanted to—and like a bolt of lightning from the skies into the kitchen, Charlie knew that he wanted to kiss Adam. He wanted Adam pressed close, the smell of Adam surrounding him, he wanted to kiss Adam, lick into his mouth, run his lips against the hint of stubble on Adam’s jawline.

He had no words.

“It’s pretty late,” Adam said.

“Ah,” Charlie said, trying to find some semblance of coherency while his mind replayed his entire life in stereo.

“We should probably head home,” Adam said. When Charlie managed to make himself look at Adam, Adam was studiously avoiding eye contact.

“Are you sure?” Charlie said.

“Yeah, we’ve got to—we’ve got to head out,” Adam said. “No point making you get the guest room ready when we’re ten minutes away.”

Some traitorous part of Charlie asked if Adam could stay somewhere other than the guest room. Somewhere like Charlie’s bed.

“Are you sure?” Charlie asked weakly.

Adam finally looked at Charlie again and his face was carefully blank. Once upon a time, Charlie would have known what this meant. But, then, once upon a time, Charlie hadn’t thought about kissing Adam, so he supposed a lot of things had changed over the years.

“Yeah, but,” Adam cast about for a moment and then his eyes lit up in satisfaction. “Maybe we’ll come to that party as long as Connie is ok with it.”

Charlie stared at Adam—when he’d thrown it out earlier, he hadn’t actually expected Adam to say yes. Hoped yes, but expected, definitely not.

“Yeah,” Charlie said, smiling softly. “I’ll call her up first thing.”

Ellie was asleep in front of the TV and Molly was doing a good impression of it next to her when Adam and Charlie went into the living room.

“It’s a shame that they’re not this well-behaved all the time,” Charlie said, making Adam snort.

Adam carefully picked up Ellie, cradling her over his shoulder where she pliantly lay snuggled against him. Molly’s eyes opened, betrayed, from her spot on the blanket but Charlie gave her a quelling look and so she settled for sullen as she watched Charlie walk Adam and Ellie to the door.

After Charlie closed the door, she jumped up. “Dad! Why couldn’t Ellie sleep over?”

“Another time,” Charlie said.

“Daaaaaaaaddddd,” Molly said but she started heading upstairs. Her protest was somewhat weakened by the yawning that she did all up the stairs. Charlie took the opportunity to get into his own pajamas while Molly changed and brushed her teeth.

She crawled under the covers of her bed just as Charlie got back to her room. She scooted over so that Charlie could sit next to her.

“I liked today,” Molly said, yawning, which of course made Charlie yawn as well. “I had fun.”

“I’m glad,” Charlie said. “Me too.” And he really meant it. It was rare to have a day like this with Molly—that was one of the things that he missed most from when he and Val had been together. He’d taken it for granted—that weekends with their kid would be forever.

“Story?” Molly asked, even as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Charlie laughed. “Just one chapter.”

“Ok,” Molly said and then she snuggled into Charlie’s side as Charlie reached over for the latest book that they were reading together.

By the time that he got two pages in, Molly was fast asleep again, so Charlie carefully untangled himself, put the book away and kissed Molly goodnight.

The relative sense of tranquility that settled over him immediately shattered once Charlie made it back downstairs to clean up. He thought about how Adam had been right in front of him, so incredibly close, and shivered. No. He forced the thought from his mind. What could he have been thinking?

It was a fluke—that was it. It’d been a long time since Charlie had had sex. His body was just reacting to circumstances beyond its control. That was it. Charlie iterated this to himself a few times. When he and Val had gotten divorced three years ago, Charlie had been reluctant to try dating again.

There was no question that he and Val were much better off when they were not romantically involved, but that hadn’t made the sting of it feel all that much better. Charlie hadn’t wanted to date in the aftermath of that. And then when the hurt of it had faded, he had felt awkward about trying to date with a six-year-old. But now, Molly was eight. Maybe it was time to get out there. Start dating. Have sex with people _that were not Adam_.

The next morning after Val picked up Molly, Charlie called Connie. She answered, her voice bright and energetic. “Charlie!” she said and her excitement made Charlie happy as well.

“Connie!” Charlie said. “How is your weekend going?”

“The kids have all deserted me and gone to hang out with their friends. Henry’s probably playing video games and Renee is at the mall, probably trying to get the attention of some other kid that I can tell she’s been crushing on for at least two months. This girl works at a juice place there—I don’t think that Renee has consumed so many fruits and vegetables in her entire life as much as she has the past few weeks.”

“Do we like this crush?” Charlie asks.

“Anyone that can get my daughter to be healthier is definitely a plus for me,” Connie said. “Although I still can’t tell if she likes Renee back or if she’s just using Renee to up her sales.” Connie made a sound of ambivalence.

“Please, stop with all of that emotional support,” Charlie said

“Shut up, Conway,” Connie said, but she was laughing now. “What’s going on with you?”

“You know how Adam Banks is back in town?” Charlie asked.

“You might have mentioned it once or twice or fifty times over the past few months, but sure, yes I know that he’s back in town. Even if I’ve seen no actual evidence of this,” Connie said.

Charlie ignored the jibe. “Totally fine to say no, but would it be ok if I brought him and his daughter to your party tomorrow night?”

There was a moment of silence and Charlie’s heart sunk. “What!” Connie said finally. “You think that I would say no to having Cake-eater and his daughter over? I’ve been waiting for you to bring them to a hang out or pick-up game for months, but I haven’t been pushing because I want to be a kind and supportive friend and you’ve always been so weird about Adam.”

“First of all, I have not,” Charlie said. “I am perfectly normal about Adam.” Even as he said it, the previous night popped into his head and the thought of kissing Adam, which was decidedly not normal. “But, I think he’s just needed time. I didn’t want to push him either. I think that he feels really bad about not keeping in contact with everyone. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“Men,” Connie said with full derision. “Anyways, despite the fact that both of you are idiots, you are both most definitely invited. Hey, give me Adam’s number, I’ll text him in an invitation.”

“Thanks, Connie,” Charlie said wholeheartedly. “I’ll bring some meatballs and beer tomorrow.”

Charlie picked up Adam and Ellie the next afternoon and drove them over to Connie and Bill’s. “Who else is going to be there?” Adam asked, his voice trying to appear casual.

“Probably a good chunk of the Ducks and some of Connie and Bill’s other friends,” Charlie said, smiling. “Let’s see—definitely Fulton and his wife, Dean, maybe Jesse, Guy and his wife, Goldberg, Averman and his boyfriend—”

Adam started at that. “Averman has a boyfriend?”

Charlie eyed Adam. Averman had come out years ago—some time during college he brought home a boyfriend. He’d been nervous as anything when he’d shown up at their holiday pick-up game on the pond. Averman was nervous all the time, but he’d somehow managed to be even more nervous, arms twitching as he’d loudly proclaimed, “This is my boyfriend, Rob.”

Everyone had been a bit skeptical about Rob, eyeing both Averman and Rob with surprise. But it turned out that Rob was from Boston and also played hockey, so it’d been fine in the end.

“Yep,” Charlie said, watching Adam. “They’ve been together for a long time now. Five years, give or take?”

“Wow,” Adam said. “And everyone was—they were ok with it?”

“I don’t think it came as a surprise to anyone,” Charlie said, trying not to laugh. “Considering he’d had a series of other boyfriends before Darnell.”

“Oh,” Adam said and then all of his tension drained out and Adam closed his eyes briefly. “That’s really good. I’m glad,”

“Is it going to come as a huge shock to you if I tell you that Julie is married to a woman?” Charlie asked.

Adam laughed at that. “I’m happy for her.”

“Great, you’ll get to tell her that,” Charlie said. “She’ll probably also be there. She ended up here as well—she’s an assistant goaltending coach for the Wild.”

“Wow,” Adam said, suitably impressed. Adam looked down at his hands. “And you think that it’s really going to be ok for me to be there.”

“Adam,” Charlie said, injecting as much feeling into it as he can. “Everyone will be over the moon to see you.”

“Adam!” Connie said, opening the door and throwing her arms around Adam. “You made it!”

Charlie threw Adam a look that said _I told you so_. Adam gave back a look that said that this was nowhere near over—and also that maybe Connie was lying to him.

Charlie rolled his eyes.

“And you’re Ellie?” Connie directed down to Ellie once she’d let go of Adam. Ellie nodded. “Awesome—the other kids are downstairs in the basement playing some ball hockey and god knows what else. I’ll show you down to where they are. As for you two,” she motioned to Charlie and Adam. “You can go straight through to the living room where the adults are. Although, Adam, don’t think that gets you out of telling me all about what you’ve been up since high school. Ugh, high school. Wow, do I feel old.”

Connie led Ellie down towards the basement stairs and Adam made an abortive twitch towards them.

“She’ll be fine,” Charlie said. “Connie’s kids are super friendly. Plus, Ellie loves hockey, so she’ll fit right in.”

“Right,” Adam said and then nervously eyed the hallway to the living room like it was going to reach out and bite him.

“Come on,” Charlie said and gently put a hand on Adam’s back to push him forward. Halfway down the hallway, Charlie realized that his hand was on the small of Adam’s back—like they were on a date. Oh god, he needed to move it. But what if moving it drew attention to it and Adam thought it was weird? What if he already thought it was weird?

Charlie felt trapped in a cycle of indecision and, blindly moved his hand as they emerged into the bright lights of the living room. Goldberg, who stood at the junction of the living room and the kitchen as he opened a bottle of beer, squinted at the two of them. Specifically at Charlie’s hand, which had migrated to being wrapped around Adam’s opposite shoulder. Charlie let go in a hurry.

“Hey guys,” Charlie said and quickly surveyed the room. A chorus of people greeted Charlie back. Fulton and Jessica sat on the couch, Dean scrunched in next to them, plates of food on their laps. Jesse sat in a chair opposite Fulton and Jessica where there were a couple other open chairs with plates of food on them. Connie’s husband, Bill, cut through a tray of rice krispy treats in the kitchen, but looked up long enough to wave. 

“Everyone, you remember Adam, right?” Charlie asked.

Goldberg made a sound of derision. “Seriously, Charlie? Yeah, we all somehow magically forgot about Adam. I seem to recall you promising to invite everyone over for a party with Adam.”

“Maybe I had a party and didn’t invite you,” Charlie said.

Goldberg rolled his eyes. “Let’s be real. Adam!”

Adam looked a little lost—like deer in headlights—and Charlie had the overwhelming urge to put his arm back around Adam. Before Charlie did anything, Goldberg pulled Adam into a hug.

“It’s good to see you, man,” Goldberg said. “I always said that you would come back to Minnesota one day. The lure of it is in our blood!”

“Goldberg, you never said that,” Dean said, making his way over as well and waiting his turn to pull Adam into a hug.

For a while, everyone got their turn in hugging Adam—just when it seemed like it might stop, Julie, her wife, Sarah, Guy, a woman that Charlie didn’t recognize and Terry came in from Connie’s backyard and then the hugging and exclamations started up all over again.

After a few minutes of that, Charlie saw that Adam looked a little tight around his eyes. He leaned in and whispered, “Do you want to take a break?”

Adam nodded fervently. “Ok,” Charlie said. “Hold everyone off for another minute, while I go grab our coats.”

Charlie dashed back to the entrance to the house and took their coats and gloves from the coat tree next to the door. When he made it back to Adam, Adam looked at Charlie, one eyebrow raised and a smile on his face.

“We’ll be right back,” Charlie announced loudly and then grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled him along towards Connie’s back door.

“Is this what I think it is?” Adam asked as he buttoned himself back up.

“Only if you think that there’s a backyard rink,” Charlie said as he opened the back door and let the two of them out. Adam stopped short, his lips curling up into a huge smile. Connie and Bill had set up a small hut that Charlie dragged Adam into—he would have stood there staring at the rink all night otherwise—which had a bunch of old skates in various sizes hanging up on the wall.

“I am moving,” Adam said in wonder. “I am getting a new house that can have a rink in the backyard.”

Charlie laughed. “Technically we could do one in mine.”

Adam turned to Charlie, a look of pure betrayal on his face. “What?” Charlie asked, half-laughing. “You haven’t mentioned wanting to skate at all. For all I know, you’ve hung up your skates and put those days behind you.”

If it was possible, Adam looked every more betrayed.

“Come on,” Charlie said and reached behind Adam to grab a pair of skates for himself. “Put some skates on and grab a stick, let’s have some fun out there.”

“Yes, Coach,” Adam said and started perusing the offerings.

As always, the first strides onto the ice felt like a quiet revelation. Charlie had been on the ice hundreds of times, maybe even thousands of times, in different rinks over the country. From the smallest, dinkiest rink to the biggest and most revered rink, the first few steps were sacred. Just Charlie and the ice.

When Charlie opened his eyes, Adam stood at the edge of the ice, watching Charlie oddly.

“What?” Charlie asked. “Can you tell that I turned into an old man?”

“You look—you look good out there,” Adam said. “Really good.” He took a few strides as well. Even now, he had perfect form, each stride powerful and explosive, his arms swinging and then his balanced stride once he’d built up enough speed. He was beautiful—and Charlie’s heart jumped straight into his throat at the sight. 

“Come on, old man,” Adam said, tapping Charlie as he moved past him. He shucked a few pucks out of his coat pocket and threw them onto the ground. “Think you can get a puck from me?”

Charlie smiled and bolted after Adam, his heart beating furiously but wondrously.

They played one on one for a while, both of them unable to stop smiling. Charlie had no doubt that Adam took it easy on them, but it was just pure fun, in the way that he remembered skating would Adam could be.

After Adam scored yet another goal on him, Charlie abandoned all hope of dignity and went for Adam with a running tackle, gently lowering them both to the ice.

“Try and score on me now,” Charlie said.

Adam laughed and it was a beautiful sound, echoing slightly in the quiet evening.

They were so close like this, Adam pressed against Charlie and Charlie wanted to lean closer and inhale Adam’s scent. He wanted to run his tongue down Adam’s throat, unbutton his jacket, kiss him right here on the ice until they were both breathless.

 _Shit_.

Neither one of them moved. Suddenly the back door opened and loud chatter filled the air and Charlie rolled off of Adam and pushed himself up.

“Dad!” Ellie said, running towards the rink. “We’re going to play some hockey!” Henry and Renee slowly meandered from the house, Brianna, Jesse’s daughter, and Mike and Lulu, Fulton and Jessica’s twins, were making their way to the hut as well, all bundled up for some skating.

Adam pushed himself up off the ice as well, grinning as he skated over to Ellie.

Charlie stood there, adrenaline coursing through his system, and cursed himself. Right, he needed to do something—just put some distance between himself and Adam because it was messing with his head. Just a little break.

Well, Charlie reasoned, they were about to go back into the house. It should be easy—just sit somewhere not immediately next to Adam.

Lester and Darnell had arrived and were serving themselves as Charlie and Adam came back into the house.

“Adam Banks!” Averman said excitedly, putting his plate down. “Connie said that you were coming, but I didn’t believe her.”

He pulled Adam into a hug and then stood back to look at him, shaking his head. “I can’t even believe it. D, this was the MVP of our team growing up. Is it an exaggeration to say that Adam was the reason that we played in the Goodwill Games?”

Half of the room chorused, “No!” Jessie loudly remarked that it certainly wasn’t due to Averman, which he brushed off. “Anyways, Adam, this is my boyfriend, Darnell. Darnell, this is Adam.”

Darnell managed to keep from laughing as he shook hands with Adam. Everything came out of Averman’s mouth a million miles an hour and Charlie was always surprised that Lester found time to breathe.

Charlie wanted to go next to Adam, make sure that he wasn’t feeling overwhelmed. But, he was on Mission: Distance, so he grabbed a slice of pizza and headed towards the couch.

“Here,” Connie said, directing Charlie to two open seats. “We made sure to save you and Adam seats near each other.”

“Because you’re weird,” Goldberg said. “But we love you anyways.”

Charlie fought back a grimace.

It was a sweet type of torture, sitting next to Adam all night—being acutely aware of him—wanting to reach over and touch Adam, but forcing himself to sit there calmly and smile at everyone. Try to be his usual joking self.

As expected, everyone loved having Adam back again. It felt right for him to be sitting there—as if the Ducks had been waiting all this time for him to return. The last piece of the puzzle. And Adam liked being back as well. Charlie could tell. Adam threw glances at Charlie every so often—half exasperated, but happy all the same. Each one prompted a rush of warmth across Charlie’s body that he tried to tamp down on.

Eventually, it got late enough that everyone with kids needed to head out to get them in bed before school tomorrow. Ellie, who decided that Renee was the coolest, almost cried when they had to leave, but Adam promised her that they’d hang out with Renee again soon. As soon as they got in the car, Ellie immediately sacked out as well, her mouth open wide when Charlie glanced in the rearview mirror at her.

“She gets like that when she’s tired,” Adam said. “A little emotional. But I’m glad she had a good time.”

“Did you have a good time?” Charlie asked.

Adam looked surprised to be asked. “Yeah,” Adam said, as if it were the stupidest question in the world. “I loved it. I’m really glad you made me come.”

“Your adoring fans missed you, Cake-eater,” Charlie said and Adam smiled shyly.

“I missed a lot while I was gone,” Adam said eventually. “I’m glad that I came back.”

“Me too,” Charlie said. What he didn’t say was that maybe he was too glad that Adam had come back…That was a Charlie problem.

After Charlie dropped Adam and Ellie off at their house, he drove home in the dark and quiet. When he parked in the garage, he sat there for a few minutes, letting the cold seep into the car and under his coat as he thought about Adam.

What he was doing wasn’t fair to Adam—Adam was looking for friendship. Actual friendship. Whatever Charlie felt right now—it was like the swing of a pendulum gone too far. Having Adam back meant so much to Charlie, he was conflating it with other things. Like his lack of active dating.

Charlie needed a plan—he would sign up for some online websites or apps. He would stop texting and hanging out with Adam all the time. And then, his body would realize it had been confused and everything would turn out as it should. With Charlie no longer thinking about what it would have been like to kiss Adam right there on the ice.

Charlie looked down at his lap and groaned.

The next day, at work, Adam texted with some drills that they could run at practice that night. Charlie took a quick look at them. _they look good_. Charlie texted. He stared at the phone some more. _how's work?_ he wrote out and then immediately deleted it.

He forced himself back to the documents on his desk. Ten minutes later, he unlocked his phone and opened up the text chain with Adam. He made himself lock his phone and put it away. He took it out again.

“Stop,” Charlie told himself sternly. “Focus on the contracts.” The contract in front of him was a seventy page lease. Charlie looked longingly back at his phone. It couldn’t hurt to text Adam once—just to see how his day had been.

Charlie tossed his phone into his bag and kicked his bag out of reach. “You have a problem,” Charlie told himself.

Tuesday evening practice turned out to be sheer torture. Everywhere that Charlie glanced Adam stood, looking as handsome as ever. Running drills with the kids? Exceedingly attractive. Correcting stick placement? Gorgeous. Refereeing the end-of-practice scrimmage? Charlie may as well as just asked the kids to head on home so he could stare at Adam.

Adam was inescapable. Torture.

“Hey!” Adam said after practice as they gathered up the pucks and cones. “Do you and Molly want to grab some ice cream after we finish here?”

On the one hand, Charlie could think of nothing that he wanted better. On the other hand, it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. He mentally willed himself to say the words needed.

“We probably can’t,” Charlie said after taking too long to respond. “I don’t want to keep Molly out too late.”

Adam’s face fell minutely, but he hid it, smiling widely to show that there were no hurt feelings. Something thudded painfully in Charlie’s chest and he forced himself to stay strong. “Of course,” Adam said.

“Next time?” Charlie said, unable to stop himself.

Adam perked right back up, as did the butterflies occupying Charlie’s stomach. “Yeah, next time,” Adam said.

When they finished collecting pucks and cones, they skated off the ice and Adam cracked a few jokes as they untied their skates.

“You’re in a good mood today,” Charlie observed.

Adam thought about it. “Yeah, I guess that I am,” he said and gave Charlie one of those curling, sweet smiles that indicated satisfaction with himself and the world. Charlie wanted to melt.

“Alright, I see Ellie—we’re off to ice cream. I’ll try not to send you too many pictures of what you’re missing out on,” Adam said and leaned in for a hug. Automatically, Charlie put his hands up and hugged back. The two of them rested there for a minute, Adam’s long and firm lines pressed up against Charlie, smelling like a hint of spice and a fresh sheet of ice.

Charlie pulled away when he realized that he risked making Adam aware of his predicament. “Have fun!” he said weakly. Again, a flash of that blinding grin and then both Adam and Ellie disappeared.

“Dad!” Molly called, pulling her hockey bag behind her as she emerged from the locker room. “I’m ready to go.”

“Awesome. Great work today at practice,” Charlie said. Molly preened and tried to look humble at the same time. Charlie stifled a laugh and picked up Molly’s gear and stick and they headed for the car.

On the drive back, Charlie broached one of the subjects on his mind. “What do you think about me dating again?”

Molly shrugged. “Mom dates.” Val did date, although she only went on dates when Charlie had Molly. She hadn’t found someone that she liked enough to bring home to Molly, but she’d let Charlie know that she was dating again. Charlie hadn’t realized that Molly knew.

“Did your mom tell you about dating?” Charlie asked.

Molly wrinkled her nose. “No. I heard her talking to Grandma about it. She said that the last one was terrible.” Molly enunciated each syllable of the word, drawing it out until she had to take a breath. “I don’t ever want to date. Why do you want to date?”

Charlie tried not to laugh. “Mainly because when you meet someone who isn’t terrible, someone who’s really great, it makes going through all the terrible people worthwhile.”

“Are you sure?” Molly asked dubiously.

“Well, I think I’d like to try,” Charlie said.

“Alright,” Molly said dubiously, like Charlie was signing his own confession. “Like Adam?”

“What!” Charlie said—how had his daughter even known??

“Ellie said that Adam should start dating soon,” Molly said.

“Oh,’ Charlie said, strangely feeling disappointment course through him. Well, it was good that Adam was dating. Great. He should be dating. He deserved to find someone. Someone who really loved him and Ellie. Someone that wasn’t Charlie—because Charlie was just confused. About his former best friend. Very confused.

“Enough talk about dating,” Charlie said brightly. “How was the rest of the weekend with your mom?”

Molly opened her mouth and then shut it, thinking. “It was good,” she said eventually. “I’ll tell you about it. But, before I forget all about it, can I invite Ellie to come over on Friday after school for a sleepover?”

Charlie’s heart sped up. He’d just made a resolution to try and see less of Adam. But, on the other hand, he really wanted to see Adam. He could play it cool. Right?

Charlie called Adam to ask later that night after he’d put Molly to bed. “Charlie!” Adam answered, sounding excited. Charlie’s heart hammered.

“Hey Adam,” Charlie said, trying to smooth out the case of nerves that had spontaneously arisen. “How was ice cream?”

Adam leaped into their ice cream adventures, telling Charlie about the true dilemma of Ellie having to only pick one flavor for her cup. They’d segued into Charlie’s difficult new client who kept failing to understand how zoning regulations worked when Charlie glanced at the time and almost had a minor heart attack. They’d been talking for almost an hour.

“Oh my god,” Charlie said in wonder. “It’s been an hour.”

“Has it?” Adam said. He didn’t sound nearly as surprised as Charlie felt.

“So the clock tells me,” Charlie said. “I need to go clean-up but I called you in the first place to see if you and Ellie wanted to come over for a double date—er, double play date—” Charlie wished the ground would just open up and swallow him right there, thank you very much, “That is, do you and Ellie want to come over on Friday night—Ellie and Molly can hang out in Molly’s room, play some games, sleepover. You and I can drink beer and play some video games? Sleepover not required.” Charlie’s mouth kept running away on him. Maybe he’d save himself the trouble and just go outside and dig his own hole to jump into.

“Yeah,” Adam said, his voice pleased. “We’d love that.”

“Great,” Charlie said, feeling like it was simultaneously the best and also anything but. “Great.”

On Friday, Adam brought Ellie over a little after five, just after Charlie and Molly had gotten home as well. When the doorbell rang, Charlie’s heart jumped into his chest, even as Molly sprinted towards the door, her socked feet stomping loudly through the house.

“Who is it?” Molly said loudly through the door. The muffled sound of Ellie and Adam came back. “Dad! Hurry up!”

Charlie made it to the door as Molly shifted from foot to foot in excitement. Charlie opened the door to a blast of cold air and Ellie and Adam, smiling at Charlie. Ellie’s coat, sweater, hat and scarf came off in a faster-than-light bundle that Adam managed to catch before Ellie and Molly took off towards upstairs.

Adam carefully hung them on the coat rack and followed Charlie into the kitchen. On the counter lay the ingredients for lasagna and salad. Charlie turned on the stovetop underneath a filled pot of water. Adam stepped close behind him and Charlie froze as Adam reached around Charlie to grab the top and carefully place it on the pot. Charlie’s mind went blank imagining turning around and pulling Adam in.

He forced the image out of his head with, what felt like, superhuman effort.

“Can I help with anything?” Adam asked. He was still smiling that charming smile and it was driving Charlie crazy, his heart beating like wild. Adam could help with getting off Charlie’s clothing, but he didn’t think that’s what Adam was aiming for.

Charlie cast about for anything that would help. “The salad?”

Like the overachiever that he was, Adam was on top of it before Charlie had even got the word out, grabbing the cutting board and cucumbers and tomatoes to start chopping. It was like he’d read Charlie’s mind. Although, thankfully, he hadn’t read Charlie’s actual mind.

The girls came down for dinner, Molly wearing a University of Minnesota hockey jersey over her leggings and Ellie wearing a princess outfit. They scarfed down some lasagna and salad just long enough to tell Adam and Charlie about their game where Molly had to rescue Ellie from a dragon that was holding her hostage by beating the dragon (who acted by proxy through Ellie) through hockey.

“What did you pretend to be as a kid?” Charlie asked as he took a deep pull of beer after the girls bolted.

“You’re going to laugh,” Adam said.

“Maybe,” Charlie said. “Probably not. You were pretty weird as a teenager, so I can’t imagine that the younger version of you was all that different.” Mentally, Charlie had Adam pegged as a kid who always imagined himself playing hockey in one form or the other. Probably in the Stanley Cup Finals scoring the series winning goal.

“I imagined myself as Wayne Gretzky,” Adam said and immediately winced as Charlie started laughing.

“Sorry,” Charlie got out, most definitely not sorry in any respect. “I totally called it.”

“From the time that I was walking, all I wanted was to play hockey. Not helped by my dad.”

“Definitely not helped by your dad,” Charlie agreed. “But it paid off. You look great out there.”

Adam shrugged, uncomfortable. He always pushed off praise of his skills, even though he was the most talented player Charlie had ever known. “I always thought that I would make it to the show one day. I think that every kid thinks that.”

“I didn’t think that,” Charlie pointed out. Adam threw Charlie a look.

“My dad still thinks that I could have made it. I might have. I just hit this point, in college, where I felt like I had to be realistic with my life, as if that were some great accomplishment. Being realistic. And as part of being realistic, I needed to prepare myself for being in the real world. I think I left hockey and everything associated with it behind before it could leave me.”

Charlie heard the unspoken words. Adam had left the hockey and the Ducks behind because he was scared that they would leave him instead.

“We would never leave you,” Charlie said and Adam’s eyes went wide.

“I didn’t mean—” Adam cut himself off. “I didn’t—I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Charlie said. After a long pause, Charlie cleared his throat. “I promised you video games, right?

“You did,” Adam said, a tentative smile returning. “I should warn you—I have not played video games with any consistency in a very long time.”

“I shall look forward to imparting this new knowledge,” Charlie said loftily.

They ended up crammed together on the couch, whacking each other as they jostled their controllers trying to alternatively cook, toss and prepare food.

“This game is demonic,” Adam said, but he couldn’t stop smiling, so Charlie didn’t take the criticism all too seriously.

“Just wait until we play _Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes_ ,” Charlie said as they lost for what might have been the tenth time. It was great.

They took a mini-break to put the girls to bed, Ellie sleeping on the trundle underneath Molly’s bed. As soon as Charlie closed the door, he heard the girls explode into laughter. He looked at Adam who shook his head in fond exasperation.

Despite Charlie’s earlier promise, they ended up putting a movie on instead of playing another video game and both Charlie and Adam fell asleep on the couch somewhere near the middle of a superhero battle scene.

When Charlie woke up as the credits were rolling, a warm presence was draped along his side. He turned to see Adam asleep on his shoulder, his face completely relaxed. It hit Charlie in a wave—he could lie to himself all that he wanted, but he wanted more. He didn’t just want Adam and Ellie over here with Molly. He wanted Adam looking at him, his gaze intent. He wanted to kiss Adam, take off each layer of his clothes and reveal the tantalizing glimpse he’d seen last week.

He _wanted_ Adam.

“Shit,” Charlie said.

Adam shifted closer into Charlie, slowly opening his eyes. He blinked a few times and then his gaze focused on Charlie.

Charlie swallowed and Adam’s gaze dropped. When he looked back up, his eyes were dark and Charlie wanted nothing more than to kiss Adam. Neither one of them moved.

Fuck it. Charlie had spent a good amount of his life making decisions and hoping that they turned out for the best. Every time, he’d been willing to deal with the consequences if they didn’t.

Charlie leaned in and gently kissed Adam. When he pulled back, Adam looked shellshocked. Regret passed like a tsunami through Charlie, leaving behind cold dread.

“I—um, I’m sorry,” Charlie offered, even though it had to be inadequate. “I just thought—I thought I saw something, but it was in my head. I’m so sorry.”

Adam didn’t say anything, his eyes tracking Charlie, so Charlie started word vomiting, as he normally did when he’d managed to dig himself a large enough hole to throw himself into.

“I’m just going to get up,” Charlie said as his mind rapidly spun out each of the increasingly embarrassing things that were likely to happen now. Why couldn’t he have exercised self-control for once in his life?

“Wait,” Adam said and, quick as a rabbit, his hand shot out and closed around Charlie’s wrist.

“Ok,” Charlie said slowly and sat back down.

Adam kept watching him. “Did you mean it?”

“Yes,” Charlie said. He couldn’t lie about something of this magnitude.

“Ok,” Adam said.

“Ok?” Charlie asked.

And then Adam leaned in and kissed him—nothing gentle like Charlie’s kiss, full of heat and sheer desire. Adam moved against Charlie, strong and warm, each touch setting of a flare inside of Charlie that he hoped would never ended.

They made out on the couch for what felt like hours, leaving Charlie’s lips buzzing from the scrape of Adam’s stubble and a pleasant haze in his head.

“I didn’t mean to catch you off-guard,” Charlie said sleepily even as he still felt completely elated. He wanted to climb a mountain and simultaneously take a nap. As long as Adam was there. They both lay on the couch and Charlie curled up into Adam, relishing the feel of having him close.

Adam made a sound that rumbled through his chest. “I just didn’t think it was possible,” Adam said.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Adam said.

“I think I can handle it. I knew you as a teenager after all,” Charlie said.

“That’s it,” Adam said and Charlie could tell that it really was embarrassing to Adam.

“Hey,” Charlie said, pushing himself up so that he could look at Adam. “Don’t be embarrassed. Whatever it is.”

Adam groaned and used his free hand to cover his eyes. “You’re making it worse. I just always had this thing for you in high school. That’s why I didn’t think that you wanting to kiss me was possible. It wasn’t possible then. It didn’t seem especially possible now.”

Charlie paused. He reflected upon their teenage years. He mentally rearranged a few things. “Aha,” he said.

“Aha? What does that mean?” Adam asked.

“It means aha—suddenly things make a little more sense,” Charlie said. He leaned down and kissed Adam again possessively and when he finally pulled back, Adam looked dazed. Happy, but dazed. Charlie lowered himself to the couch and curled back into Adam.

“You know, Goldberg did make a comment about how weird I’ve always been about you,” Charlie said. “I guess that now I have license to be extra weird about you.”

“Please do,” Adam said and he pulled Charlie in close. “Can I be weird about you too? Or maybe weirder—I can’t say that I was ever normal about you.”

“I think now it’s my turn to be embarrassed,” Charlie said. “Because I want that desperately.”

“Good,” Adam said.

“Good,” Charlie agreed.


End file.
